31 Things to Do in Philly This Weekend

Rising Appalachia plays World Cafe Live on Friday.

Friday, March 25

• Mimesis, Stage II @ Icebox A “one-night audio/visual performance” by visual artist Maria Dumlao and sound collage artist Eugene Lew. The sights and the sounds will be warped live before your spiraling eyes. Could be trippy and cool.
• Grandchildren/Northern Liberties/Sleek Machine @ Boot & Saddle Solid night of Philadelphia rock ’n’ roll circa right now.
• Justify Your Love @ The Drake TJ Hurley invites local funny people to talk about their favorite guilty pleasure song and then sets the panel of funny/mean judges loose on them for the cross examination. I was a contestant once and had a blast.
• Colin Kane @ Helium Comedy Club “Dirty,” “in-your-face” comedian. Through Saturday.
• Beautiful: The Carole King Musical @ Academy of Music Broadway Philly does the Tony-winning musical based on the hit songwriter’s true story. You may feel the earth move under your feet. Through April 3.
• Show No Show @ FringeArts Gabrielle Revlock and Aleksandr Frolov performing an intimate, emotional “dance of a relationship.” Check out the video below. Through March 26.
• An Octoroon @ Wilma Our resident theater critic David Fox calls this production of Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins’ play a must-see: “This brave, astonishing play should be seen and savored by any serious theater-goer.” Runs through April 10.
• Good Friday Crosswalk with Philly Jesus @ The Art Museum March with PJ from the Art Museum to Love Park.
• 

  From “77: an exhibition of self-portraits by Isaiah Zagar”

  77: An Exhibition of Self-Portraits by Isaiah Zagar @ Paradigm Gallery + Studio An exhibition by Philly’s renowned mosaic artist, inspired by his travels to Asia and South America. Reception is Friday. On display through April 16. We ran a slideshow earlier in the week.

• Rising Appalachia/Kuf Knotz @ World Café Live A bill with cross-over appeal. Rising Appalachia, led by sisters Leah and Chloe Smith, makes pretty, stylish (and sustainable) acoustic music. Philly artist Kuf Knotz does positive, conscious rap.
• Sons of the Prophet @ Annenberg Center Penn students’ performance of the play by Stephen Karam about “a Lebanese-American family in rural Pennsylvania beset by an absurd string of tragedies.” Through March 26.
• Adventures of a Secret Kidd: The Mass Hallucination of Kenn Kweder @ International House The long-awaited documentary about longtime folk-rocker Kenn Kweder, a truly unique personality and cornerstone of the Philadelphia music scene. This looks amazing.
• #RadGirlsInTech @ Menagerie Coffee “Meetup group serving women in technology.”
• Field Music @ Johnny Brenda’s The British Brewis brothers return in support of Commontime. Fun, catchy rock. In the ’80s they would’ve been superstars. Watch the video below.
• Liza Jessie Peterson @ Slought The poet/playwright performs an excerpt from her show The Peculiar Patriot, about a woman visiting her family and friends in prison. Followed by discussion of mass incarceration.
• Secret Cinema @ Fairmount Park Horticulture Center This city’s top purveyor of films you didn’t know you wanted to see returns with “Parks and Rec Rarities,” an evening city-made films from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. Most of these strange, funny time capsules haven’t been seen since they were made, and some were only recently rediscovered in a rec center storage closet. Can’t beat the setting, either.

Saturday, March 26

• Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band @ PhilaMOCA Forsyth and co. make smart, inventive rock ’n’ roll. Though there are a few tracks with vocals on the brand new The Rarity of Experience, this band doesn’t really need a singer to get its point across.
• Elissa Blount Moorhead @ Amalgam Comics Moorhead will discuss her “subversive kids book,” P is for Pussy.
• Books Through Bars Spring Book Sale @ BTB HQ “Most books will be priced at $1 each or $5 per plastic grocery bag full.”
• 

  The Tale of Princess Kaguya

  The Tale of Princess Kaguya @ International House An animated folktale by Isao Takahata, with voices by James Caan, Mary Steenburgen and Chloë Grace Moretz.

• Square Peg Round Hole @ Milkboy Philly The “instrumental percussion trio” celebrates the release of Juniper. They’re the guys who did that video at Ringing Rocks.
• Philly the Bern Mural Unveiling @ 22nd and Catherine Really, you can go whenever, because it’s a mural. But this afternoon event includes voter registration, facepainting and … Facepainting? You guys know little kids can’t vote, right? All my FB friends must be Bernie Bros; I haven’t gotten invited to a single Hillary rally.
• Ladybird @ Tin Angel Old-timey Philly folk.
• G. Love & Special Sauce @ Fillmore Philly Jammy, wordy, bluesy, kinda hip-hoppy, pro-cold-beverage music.
• How To Be A Model: A Workshop @ The Drake Hosted by Andrew Jeffrey Wright. “Bring your positive attitude and willingness to learn and get ready to transcend.”
• The Split Squad @ Boot & Saddle Inventive rock by rock veterans. With Palmyra Delran and Stupidity.
• Play-A-Palooza @ Smith Memorial Playground & Playhouse Playground grand opening. Bring the kids and Purell.
• The Divas of Drag @ TLA A national tour featuring a giant list of reality TV stars including: JujuBee, Yara Sofia, Alyssa Edwards, Trixie Mattel and more.

G. Love [photo by Emmett Malloy]

• Titus Andronicus/ Craig Finn @ Union Transfer TA returned to fighting form last year with The Most Lamentable Tragedy, a 29-song rock opera. And Finn, of course, is the wordy frontman of the Hold Steady, playing in support of his latest solo album Faith in the Future. It’s his most Springsteeny stuff yet. See below.
• Kitten @ The Troc Dancey synth punk kids from L.A. play upstairs at the Balcony. Listen to “G#,” that’ll tell you everything you need to know about Kitten.
• Easter Promenade @ South Street Bonnets, brunch and a tall bunny. Hard to picture a tall bunny, isn’t? Appearances by Henri David, the Philadelphia Freedom Band, the Easter Bunny and more. Then go home and eat some ham pie.